ITU Geological Engineering Undergraduate Program - 2020-21 Academic Year

Notification to Students and Faculty

ITU Geological Engineering Undergraduate Program is a 4-year program accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, www.abet.org (Criteria: Geological Engineering). The program is currently (as of 28 August, 2020) in a “Show Cause Review” period which has been utilized to bring the program into compliance with the accreditation criteria, to prepare the “Show Cause Response Report”, to provide a summary to the students and faculty members of the reasons for the period/action and the remedial action decisions and specific corrective actions structured and started to be implemented as of 2020-21 Fall term to maintain accreditation.

Reason(s) for the period:

During the re-accreditation review process, evidence demonstrating that the program had implemented a consistent process to assure adequate design content across projects was not sufficient. Accordingly, the program shortcoming is unresolved. In preparation for the next review and to resolve the shortcoming, the program needs to provide sufficient documentation providing evidence that all students complete a major design experience that involves the design of a system, component or process to meet desired needs, and incorporates appropriate engineering standards and multiple realistic constraints.

The remedial action decisions and specific corrective actions taken and implemented by the program are envisioned to contribute to the continuous improvement of the undergraduate education provided by the ITU GEUP to its students.

Remedial actions decisions and specific corrective actions by the ITU Geological Engineering Undergraduate Program (GEUP), starting in the 2020-21 Fall term:

1. After a series of the GEUP Board meetings and discussions, the following remedial action decision was taken and implemented: RAD-01: Restructuring the courses titled JEO350 Basic Principles in Engineering Design and Methods, the former JEO492 Graduation Design Project (between 2011-12 2017-18), and the new JEO4901 and JEO4902 Geological Engineering Design I and II courses (as of 2017-18). In order to avoid possible complications due to ECTS and credit requirements in the curriculum, the content of the junior-year elective JEO350 Basic Principles in Engineering Design and Methods course was incorporated into the recently adapted senior-year compulsory JEO4901 Geological Engineering Design I course. A coordinator was appointed to conduct the JEO4901 course and a team of instructors were also appointed to give lectures throughout the semester and supervise the geological engineering design term projects to ensure uniform implementation. Note that the JEO4901 Geological Engineering Design I course is one of the pre-requisites of the JEO4902 Geological Engineering Design II course.
2. After a series of the GEUP Board meetings and discussions, the following remedial action decision was taken and is planned to be implemented in due course: RAD-02: Replacing the 3^rd year elective JEO350 Basic Principles in Engineering Design and Methods course with a new one titled “Geophysical Methods in Geological Engineering” in the corresponding Elective Courses list.
3. An application form will be required for the JEO4902 Geological Engineering Design II course. This form is the same form that has been prepared for the former JEO492 Graduation Design Project (between 2011-12 2017-18), and the new JEO4901 and JEO4902 Geological Engineering Design I and II courses (as of 2017-18), which is a user interactive word document downloadable from the department’s website (https://jeoloji.itu.edu.tr/egitim/gerekli-belgeler).
4. The ITU GEUP and the Department Administration jointly conducted two separate online sync meetings (thru Zoom) by the end of September 2020 (on 30 Sept, 2020), first with the department’s academic personnel and then with the ITU GEUP students to inform the primary constituents about the ITU GEUP’s current status regarding the accreditation status and processes and also about the remedial actions decisions and specific corrective actions by the ITU GEUP starting in the 2020-21 Fall term.